


You’ve got to wake up where your heart is

by 970406



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, also maybe jeonghan was a little crush on joshua, it's just one scene but that's why this story is rated as mature, nanny!mingyu, singer!wonwoo, single dad!wonwoo, there's a bit of smut in the end, wonwoo's child is the cutest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 18:27:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6765019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/970406/pseuds/970406
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Mingyu is hired to take care of Wonwoo’s daughter while he’s busy working on a new album.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 일

**Author's Note:**

> Jessica, thank you.

The thing about having a friend who owns a recording studio is that said friend is not to be trusted with secrets like the fact that you’ve just been let go from your job at the kindergarten you’ve worked at during the past six months because they go by the philosophy “first in, first out.” Mingyu learns this the hard way.

Not even two weeks of self-pitying and too much ice cream later said friend with the name Jeonghan barges into Mingyu’s apartment –  _of course I didn’t knock, we’re friends Mingyu_  – and plops down on Mingyu's stomach with his most terrifying grin plastered on his face. Mingyu is now both breathless and scared half to death, because not only did Jeonghan knock all the air out of his lungs, but he also got this look in his eyes that tells Mingyu that he’s done something he’s insanely proud of. The thing is, it’s not always a given that anyone else will benefit from one of these famous  _somethings_.

“You still laying here then?” Jeonghan questions with that unimpressed tone of his as he reaches out to tug on one of Mingyu’s curls. “Well at least you’ve showered this morning, that’s good. Brilliant even, what with the interview you’ve got in a few hours and all.”

“Yeah, yeah, get out hyung, will you?" Mingyu sighs out. He breathes into the moment of silence, and then it hits him; "Wait, _what?_ The  _what_  I’ve got  _when?_ ”

“The interview,” Jeonghan repeats. “The one I got you yesterday. Didn’t I tell you on the phone last night?”

“No.” He most certainly did not. “You talked about Joshua’s eyes for forty five minutes then you fell asleep on me.”

Mingyu doesn’t even know Joshua but he still feels sorry for the poor guy for having to deal with Jeonghan’ incessant stares the days they’re both at work. He has a feeling Joshua does his work way better than Jeonghan does his and the only reason Jeonghan gets away with it is because he’s the boss.

“Oh  _right_. You really have to see them, they’re so-”

“I don’t care! What were you saying about the damn interview?” Mingyu interrupts. He also pushes his friend off of his stomach and somehow manages to roll away and make place for the both of them on the tiny couch.

“The interview, yeah! So we have Jeon Wonwoo working at the studio now, right,” Jeonghan rambles on, and Mingyu nods ‘cause he can faintly remember Jeonghan mentioning that sometime last week in-between stories about cookie dough and Joshua’s eyebrows. “And yesterday I might have overheard him on the phone talking about his kid and how he needs a babysitter or something, right? So I immediately thought of you of course, and-”

“You  _didn’t_ ,” Mingyu hisses. It comes out kind of weak though, because he knows his best friend too well to even hope that Jeonghan might have actually let a moment pass quietly for once.

“I  _did!_  I told him about how unfair it was that they fired you and about how much the kids loved you and, well, he wants to meet you!”

And, yeah. Mingyu knows he’s fucked, ‘cause when has Jeonghan let him out of an uncomfortable situation before?

* * *

Now Mingyu isn’t all too familiar with Jeon Wonwoo. When he became famous Mingyu decidedly didn’t care. As the world fell for that fantastic guy with all that cute timid charm and pretty face, Mingyu kept to the groups in his iPod and resolutely told himself that if he’d managed the first nineteen years of his life without knowing anything about the singer he would do just fine if he remained unknowing.

It’s now six years later and even though he’s stayed true to his words and let the world go Wonwoo- _crazy_ without him, he is a hundred percent certain that the guy who greets him by the front door is not Jeon Wonwoo, and it’s confusing him because he’s also quite sure that Jeonghan had said that Wonwoo wanted to meet him himself.

“Hi, Mingyu is it? Kim Mingyu, right?” the guy asks, and when Mingyu nods his confirmation he smiles and it makes Mingyu feel at ease. He invites him in and leads the way through the hallway and into a living room, and all he can really think about is how much he loves the fact that the house is a little messy, fairly normal-sized and with this vibe that says that people really live here. It’s a house that belongs to a family, and the fact that one of its members is a multimillionaire just doesn’t seem to matter.

“Yeah, so, you know. You should take a seat,” the guy suggests, shrugging from his position on one of the couches where he's already made himself comfortable. Mingyu realizes, then, that this might be Wonwoo’s... _Boyfriend?_ Whether he is or isn’t, this is already shaping up to be the weirdest interview he’s even been on ‘cause he’s never heard an employer talk as informal as this guy. Maybe his ripped-jeans-black-t-shirt-wearing self will fit in here perfectly then.

“I’m Jun, Wonwoo’s best friend, which is the main reason why I’m here, Wonwoo trusts me to have a good judgement on these things.”

So, _not_ his boyfriend then.

The conversation flows easily from there. Jun asks him to tell a bit about himself – something he manages to do without telling a single one of the embarrassing stories of his drunken escapades with Jeonghan – and of course some about his time at the daycare, which quickly turns into a discussion about super-glue and how no child under the age of ten should be allowed to use it. It’s fun and it doesn’t feel like an interview at all until Jun sits up straight and clears his throat.

“Okay, so you seem like a good guy. All Wonwoo is really looking for is someone who’ll take good care of his kid, and you don’t seem like a psycho or a murderer or anything, and according to your friend you don’t even listen to Wonwoo’s music so there’s no need to worry about you being a stalker either, right?” Jun asks, and the concern in his voice is actually amusing enough that it makes Mingyu chuckle out loud.

“No, not really a fan and definitely not a stalker,” he answers, arms stretched out from his body and the palms of his hands facing Jun, as if the gesture will somehow prove his innocence.

"How, though?”

“What?”

“Oh, I mean, most people are either fans or haters, I’ve never really met anyone our age who doesn’t know of his music at all,” Jun explains. “You do listen to music, right? You’re not some kind of freak?”

Mingyu laughs again, starting out in small chuckles but quickly turning into a full on belly laugh when he catches the horrid look on Jun’s face that tells him that he’s regretting his outburst.

“No, no, I do listen to music, of course I do. I’m more into groups though.” he says, pulling his hand through his hair as he formulates his next sentence in his head. “And like you said, it’s not that I don’t like Wonwoo’s music, it’s just that I decided right from the start that I didn’t need to hear it.”

“Well that’s painfully honest, wow.”

And yeah, that voice is deep and is coming from the doorway where Mingyu is met with the sight of a guy whose face he has seen on the front of magazines plenty of times. Even though he doesn’t really care for the guy it sure feels bizarre to actually see him in person. Not to mention that he’s fucking gorgeous too, casually leaning against the wall, dressed in sweats and a jumper and smiling at him with this unreadable  _something_  in his eye.

“Yeah, well. I, uh–”

“Don’t worry about it, I get it. I was the same about that Eric Nam bloke before I met him and realized he’s made out of pure talent and kindness,” Wonwoo says, now walking closer and eventually extending his hand to Mingyu, who takes it carefully and silently hates himself for not standing up before engaging in the handshake. The self-hatred fades quickly, though, because before he knows it Wonwoo has let go of his hand and is sitting next to him on the couch, much closer than necessary. He’s still smiling and his hair is looking soft where it’s resting against his forehead. He looks cosy. And he smells  _fantastic_ , and-

“So if it’s alright with you I was thinking we could start off tomorrow?”

Mingyu should probably have paid some attention to what Wonwoo was saying instead of admiring the way his lips moved. He nods though, ‘cause the words he did catch sounded positive.

“You’ll just have to come by for a few hours and we’ll hang out and see if Nari feels comfortable around you.”

Mingyu is just about to ask _who Nari is_ when he realizes that it must be Wonwoo’s kid.

“Oh, so you’ve got a little girl then!” is his excited response. He probably sounds like an idiot. “How old is she?”

Wonwoo gives him an amused look before he turns to Jun and changes it into a frown. “What kind of employer are you? Did you tell him  _anything_  about my daughter or did you figure he’ll just have to interrogate her himself?”

“Would’ve gotten to it if you hadn’t barged in here just now,” Jun says with a nonchalant shrug, and he doesn’t even look offended. It’s like he’s used to the banter and doesn’t mind it at all. It reminds him a lot of his friendship with Jeonghan and he’s suddenly very happy with the prospect of being around these people in the near future.

* * *

Mingyu finds out that Nari is three years old –  _three and ten months, Mingyu, dad is always wrong_  – and a ball of energy and sunshine, much like her dad. He meets up with them outside their house the following morning and after hiding a little behind her dad’s legs for a few minutes curiosity seems to get the best of her and she interrupts the grown-up’s conversation with a tentative tug on the hem of Mingyu’s t-shirt.

He is quick to crouch down and tilt his head to the side as he says, “Hello princess, is everything alright?”

She positively beams, first at Mingyu and then up at her dad who is watching the exchange with a warm smile. “Princess?” she then questions, “Dad always calls me princess.”

“Well you are one, aren’t you? You sure look like one,” Mingyu remarks, and Nari nods with a serious expression before she remembers her initial question.

“What’s your favourite colour? Mine’s pink, do you like pink?” she asks, and Mingyu chuckles a little ‘cause he would have been able to tell just by looking at her clothes; a pink shirt peeking out under the hem of the pink jumper she’s got on her tiny frame and pink shoes on her small feet. The jeans she’s wearing are the only item on her body that’s not pink, and even those have something that sparkles in pink as decorations by the pockets. Something tells Mingyu that the girl has a big say in what goes in the bags and what doesn’t when she’s out shopping with her dad.

“I do like pink quite a bit actually,” Mingyu admits, then he lowers his voice and reveals, “But my absolute  _favourite_  is purple.”

Nari grins, first because of the way Mingyu had whispered and the way Wonwoo pretended not to have heard a thing, and then because of the actual answer. It was a good one, apparently, because after that there’s nothing holding her back. She grabs Wonwoo’s hand and pulls until he finally moves, and as they head off to the playground by the park that is supposed to be just down the street Mingyu gets a surprisingly detailed summary of what the girl had for breakfast this morning –  _pancakes, Mingyu, pancakes!_  – and of how her dad had been close to knock over his cup of coffee when he was swatting at a fly. Judging by the way the retelling of the story makes her laugh Mingyu thinks he must have missed something spectacular.  
  
Once they reach the park Mingyu stands next to Wonwoo and they both watch the little girl as she fearlessly sprints across the grass and to the playground. He finds himself oddly attached to her already and is mentally trying to stop himself from getting his hopes up about this. Still, he’s got to admit that he really wants the… Well, for lack of a better word; job. From what Mingyu’s gathered so far it seems more like getting paid for doing normal day to day things. Kind of like being a stay at home mum.

Something nudges his side and when he looks up Wonwoo is smiling at him. It’s a beautiful smile, really.

“Come on, I usually sit over here,” he says and points to a bench by the edge of the playground, slightly hidden and placed far away from the others where a group of women seem to be chatting rather vigorously. “It’s got a good view of the park and the sharks usually stay away from me.”

Mingyu doesn’t understand what he means until he realizes that Wonwoo is looking at the women and shuddering the way Mingyu himself tends to do when he’s looking at something that brings him particularly bad memories. It makes him snort quite loudly, and that of course brings Wonwoo’s attention back to him.

He looks at Mingyu with a sheepish grin and says, “What? It’s not that I don’t like talking to people, I just don’t care much for mothers in their thirties who don’t get enough attention from their husbands, alright? They’ve been looking at me like I’m meat since the day I moved here with Nari and I can always hear them talking about me from the other side of the park. They’re worse than my most intense fans.”

Mingyu starts to laugh again, open and free in a way he hasn’t for a while. He’s been miserable about losing his job for far too long and not even Jeonghan has managed to coax out a chuckle from his lips. Now, though. Now laughing seems like the easiest thing in the world again; like everything around him is worth at least a smile.

They’re both still grinning when they finally sit down on the bench, and for a while they sit in comfortable silence and keep an eye on Nari while carefully avoiding the looks from the ladies that seem curious to find out who Wonwoo’s new friend is.

Then Mingyu realizes that, “You said ‘when you moved here with Nari’, does that mean that her mother is out of the picture?”

He makes sure not to sound like he’s snooping for information, adding a softness to his tone in case it’s a sensitive subject.

“Are you kidding me?” Wonwoo asks, “Did Jun tell you anything? Like,  _at all_?”

“Well... Not much. He asked me many things about myself and that you and Nari are not a huge fans of vegetables.” Mingyu says, grinning unnecessarily big because he can’t seem to stop now that Wonwoo has gotten him started again.

“Fantastic,” Wonwoo mutters, shaking his head and leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, and eventually his head in his hands. “I don’t even know Nari’s mum, it was a one-time thing that turned into a nine month thing that she didn’t want anything to do with later on, so I was at the hospital on the day of the birth, got my little girl in my arms when she came out and have barely let go of her since. Her mother is just… I don’t know, I’ve kind of gotten used to thinking that she doesn’t exist? S'gonna be hard to explain it all to Nari, I’m kind of hoping she’ll never ask about it.”

“Huh,” is Mingyu’s initial response, ‘cause sometimes he does stupid things like that. “I don’t know a lot of guys that would do such a thing, sounds to me like you’ve been a great dad from the start. You must have been young back then.”

Wonwoo smiles, of course he does. “I was twenty-three. Luckily enough I’d spent the previous three years being a popstar and living out all the dreams I had as a kid, so when I found out I was going to have a kid of my own I realized that that was the only  _big_  dream I had left, you know… To have a family. And the thought of my baby getting adopted just because I didn’t want a relationship with the mother seemed so ridiculous that I just, uh. There was nothing else on my mind than keeping her myself. And I’ve never regretted it.”

Mingyu probably shouldn’t form a crush on the guy whose daughter he might become the nanny to.

Mingyu has never really learned how to keep his emotions in check.

“So, uh,” he says, scratching his head. “Aren’t we doing this the wrong way? I mean, is there anything  _you_  want to know about  _me_?”

It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy listening to Wonwoo, ‘cause he really does. He just doesn’t want to come across as nosy. And besides, if it turns out to be a bad fit and he doesn’t get the job he’s probably better off knowing as little as possible about how good of a guy Jeon Wonwoo is. It just won’t go very well with his good old ‘Jeon Wonwoo who?' attitude.

Wonwoo smiles at him in a way Mingyu can only describe as secretive, the way people usually do when they know more than they should. It would be unsettling if the smile wasn’t so heart-warming.

“No worries. I reckon I know plenty already.”

“How do you-” he starts, but then it hits him; “ _Jeonghan_. Of course.”

“He talks a lot about you.” Wonwoo exclaims. “He looks fine. And a bit crazy at times, but who isn’t?”

Mingyu sighs, ‘cause that’s what most people say when they’ve met his best friend. He’s pretty sure he’s the only exception to that, actually, but that’s probably because Jeonghan had been heartbroken the night they’d met and Mingyu had offered him a shoulder to cry on as they spent the early morning hours on the sidewalk outside some house party Mingyu had happened to stumble past on his way home from a friend.

“Yeah, well. There’s crazy and there’s insane…” Mingyu drifts off, mumbling to himself but apparently doing so loud enough for Wonwoo to hear, judging by the laugh that bursts out of him.

“From what I’ve heard you’ve had your moments too. Swimming naked in fountains and-” “That was a dare! And I might have been a bit drunk, and Jeonghan and my other friends are obviously to blame,” Mingyu says, waving a hand around as if it’ll help him make a point.

Wonwoo is staring at him, shaking his head with the remains of a chuckle still tugging at his lips. He’s just about to say something when Mingyu speaks up again, seemingly unable to keep himself even slightly professional.

“Heeeey _, you’ve_  got to be the insane one here if you’re seriously considering to hire me to look after your kid when all you know about me is what _Jeonghan_  has told you.” Jeonghan might be his best friend but he rarely backs away from an opportunity to retell the top ten of Mingyu’s most unfortunate stories.

“Not at all. He said you’re that guy that makes sure everyone else has food on their plates before you sit down to eat, and that your cooking is to die for, and that you’re the one out of his friends who swears the least,” Wonwoo says, ticking it off on his fingers. “Which is all brilliant, ‘cause I love food so much that I can get impatient when I have to cut up Nari’s food before I can eat my own, and I really can’t cook for shit, and I swear, like… A lot. And I promise I’m a better dad than I set myself out to be.”

He ends his ramble with a chuckle that makes Mingyu feel so, so fond of the guy.

“Well alright then, if you’re willing to risk it…” Mingyu trails off, hopeful and excited in a way he hasn’t been for a long time, his chest swelling with it when he locks eye with Wonwoo and sees the serious glint hidden in the brown.

“’S not a risk, but sure I am.”


	2. 이

That same afternoon Mingyu walks into his flat only to be met with the sight of Jeonghan sprawled out on his couch in front of an old episode of The Night Watchman –  _what if Joshua likes historical dramas, Mingyu? Then what? I have to know these things!_  – and he doesn’t even have it in him to sigh and shake his head the way he normally does. He’s too happy for that.  
  
“You could’ve at least taken off your shoes first,” he says instead, kicking weakly at Jeonghan’ dirty vans that are resting on top of the armrest and wondering for the millionth time why he gave the spare key to his flat to  _Jeonghan_  of all people.  
  
“I could have,” Jeonghan agrees, “but I figured that the shoes are probably worth more than your couch so why bother?”  
  
“Yeah... _Why bother?_ ” Mingyu mumbles to himself, ‘cause he can’t really argue with that. Jeonghan must take his words the wrong way though, ‘cause all of a sudden he shoots up from his spot and stands in front of Mingyu, hand on his shoulder and that rare, serious expression on his face.  
  
“How did it go? What did he say? What did  _you_  say? He likes you, right? Did his kid not like you? Are you- I brought ice cream and vodka if that helps?”  
  
Mingyu furrows his brows and shrugs Jeonghan’ hand off his shoulder.  
  
“Ice cream and vodka, really?” he doesn’t have enough fingers and toes to count the times that combination has gotten the two of them in trouble. “You’re so confident in my abilities that you prepared consolation food before I even left the second interview?”  
  
Jeonghan doesn’t even blink, though, and that’s probably what makes Mingyu believe him when he says, “Not at all, ice cream and vodka work just as well as celebration food. So it turned out well then?”  
  
“It…” Mingyu starts off, then he breathes in and thinks; tries to gather his thoughts and memories of the day and turn them into a sentence that will describe it all. He doesn’t come up with anything else than, “It did.”  
  
He punctuates it with a dimpled smile, one that he’s shown Jeonghan a handful of times during the years that they’ve known each other and the same one he must have shown Wonwoo once every other minute today. By the way Jeonghan’ features soften he can tell that he understands.  
  
He nods and turns around, sprinting into the kitchen and shouting, “Well go on, then!”  
  
Mingyu looks back down at his couch and almost feels a bit grateful that it’s survived this long. Jeonghan has offered to buy him a new one, even going as far as insisting that the purchase of a new one will benefit him as well, seeing as he’s in Mingyu's apartment more often than not to keep Mingyu from wasting his money on unnecessary travels into the city. He made enough to get by with the money he made at the daycare though, always refusing help from his parents and friends despite the bad conditions he’s found himself in lately. Jeonghan just tends to ignore his stubborn nature and help with anything that isn’t straight up putting money in his empty hands. Like bringing food and alcohol into his apartment in situations like these.  _That’s_  probably why he gave Jeonghan the spare key to his flat.  
  
“I, uh. I’m going back tomorrow to discuss the details,” he says, sitting down and sinking into the worn fabric of the couch. He can’t quite believe the words that are coming out of his mouth, hasn’t really understood the meaning of them and what is about to happen. “And then… Well, then we’re off I guess. I mean, we’re still just checking to see that it’s working out, but from my point of view there’s really nothing to complain about.”  
  
Jeonghan comes back with the ice cream and two spoons, apparently saving the alcohol for later which is a surprisingly responsible thing to do for someone with his standards.  
  
“So his kid was alright?” he asks, and Mingyu almost feels offended.  
  
“Alright?” he scoffs. “She’s more than  _alright_ , she’s adorable!"

* * *

Jeonghan might be a bit too hungover to drive the next morning, but that has never stopped him before and it certainly doesn’t stop him today either. He insists on driving Mingyu to Wonwoo’s house –  _no I’m not snooping, Mingyu, I just want this important day to start off well for you_  – and gives it an approving hum before he waves Mingyu off and drives to the studio (or let’s face it; to  _Joshua_.)  
  
It’s early, that kind of early that has people on the street either getting their newspapers or driving off to work, and Mingyu stays still for a while just to take in his surroundings and breathe in the fresh air and peacefulness that hasn’t really been in his life since he moved from Holmes Chapel.  
  
It takes a while for Wonwoo to open the door once Mingyu knocks, and when he finally does he shows off a bright grin that doesn’t really match his sleepy eyes, ruffled clothes and dishevelled hair. Mingyu appreciates the effort to make him feel welcome though, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that Wonwoo had asked him to arrive this early he probably would have been apologizing for waking him up.  
  
“C’mon, in we go!” Wonwoo exclaims, voice raspy but still pleasant to listen to and with that happy tone that’s been present whenever Mingyu has heard him talk these past days. He places his hand on Mingyu’s upper arm and drags him over the threshold, urging him in and barely letting him kick off his shoes to the side where a whole mountain of sneakers, converse and pink sandals are already stacked. Before he knows it he has been dragged into the kitchen and pushed down on a stool by the island which Wonwoo quickly rounds to get to the coffee maker.  
  
And that’s about as long as Mingyu can suppress his polite side. He taps his fingers against the wooden surface of the counter and watches the way Wonwoo’s shoulder blades move against the wrinkled t-shirt he’s wearing. “Sorry if I woke you up, I-“  
  
“I told you to get here this early, didn’t I?” Wonwoo quickly points out, much like Mingyu had done to himself. “I’m usually up this time anyway, you don’t get to sleep in very often with an energetic three year old in the house.”  
  
He chuckles to himself, fiddles some more with the machine, then turns around to face Mingyu again. His eyes are bright and happy, and for some reason Mingyu feels like he has to look away before he’s too captivated by them.  
  
“Yeah, where is she?”  
  
“Sleeping, actually,” Wonwoo answers, eyebrows rising and showing that he’s surprised by his daughter’s behaviour. “Refused to go to bed last night because I told her you’d be coming back today, thought she’d sleep through it and miss you.”  
  
He chuckles again and this time Mingyu laughs with him, strangely flattered to hear that he’s managed to impress Nari even though they’ve only met once. But that’s the biggest reason to why he likes kids so much; they’re honest with their feelings. If they like someone, they let them know so, and if they don’t like someone, they make that just as clear. Adults are so much more complicated, Mingyu himself included.  
  
“So,” Wonwoo says, effectively bringing Mingyu’s attention back to himself. “Want breakfast? I can make… Pancakes. And pancakes. And I’m pretty good when it comes to burning eggs and bacon.”  
  
Thing is, Wonwoo is beaming at Mingyu the way most people beam when they reveal that they’ve graduated from university or that they’re getting married. It’s ridiculously endearing.  
  
“I can make all that too. Haven’t gotten the hang of burning things yet though, but I’d quite like to cook something for you guys if that’s alright?” he offers, feeling slightly flushed when he realizes that he might be pushing things and that Wonwoo might not be okay with it. He has a whole explanation ready on the tip of his tongue; stuff about only wanting to show that he actually can cook if he ends up getting the job. Somewhat decent culinary skills must be on the list of things Wonwoo is searching for.  
  
“’Course it’s alright. If Jeonghan’ speech is anything to go by you’ll be a better cook than my mum, and that’s quite the feat. I just don’t want to push anything on you before I’ve fully charmed you into taking the job,” Wonwoo says cheerfully, and Mingyu is so, so close to choke on air.

Charmed? Oh, he’s charmed alright. It took embarrassingly little to charm him, actually.  
  
He stands up, eyes scanning the room as he tries not to blurt out anything inappropriate. “I’ll get right on it, then! You just…” he trails off, waving his hands around. “Sit down and relax?”  
  
Wonwoo snorts but gladly does as Mingyu suggested, and Mingyu takes his place on the other side of the island, opening the fridge and taking out the things he needs. He figures Wonwoo will yell at him if he crosses any lines or does anything that can be considered an invasion of their privacy.  
  
“Pancakes for the little one, no?” he asks over his shoulder, grabbing eggs and milk while his insides vibrate with the excitement of being near a fridge full of food. His own never is, and since Jeonghan doesn’t know how to cook he never keeps anything but old takeout and booze in his.  
  
“She eats  _everything_ , just like her dad. We don't like vegetables a lot, but we eat it.” Wonwoo says proudly. “But pancakes are probably her favourite, yeah.”  
  
“That’s good! That she eats everything, I mean. I’ve had to deal with kids who’ve been so picky with their food and it nearly drove me insane.” He doesn’t know why he said that, it wasn’t a necessary comment. He’s just anxious to keep the conversation going for some reason. Maybe he just wants Wonwoo to keep talking.  
  
“Sure, it’s brilliant when she’s sitting by the dinner table. Not so much when she’s outside and eats a fist full of grass because she thinks it’s parsley.”  
  
Mingyu can feel it coming, he should have been able to stop it really, but he doesn’t and just a second later he’s snickering and he doesn’t even bother to try and hide it ‘cause he’s not facing away from Wonwoo anymore. The older watches him for a moment before he joins in, and then they’re both looking at each other while shaking their heads as they let their laughter die down very slowly.  
  
“Dad,  _I found Bora_! I found -“  
  
Nari stops dead in her tracks when she realizes that something is out of the ordinary and that her dad isn’t alone in the kitchen. She’s got a teddy bear in her hand, her small fingers clutching the foot of it as its body is swinging back and forth just above the floor. About half of her dark hair is in a messy ponytail, the rest has escaped during the night and is hanging over her shoulder, and along with the big eyes and the pink that’s quickly colouring her cheeks she looks absolutely adorable. Once she realizes that the man in the kitchen isn’t a stranger her lips start to curl, and soon she’s full on grinning, although fighting to hide it by tilting her head down and trying to bury her face in her shoulder. Mingyu is proud that he doesn’t melt at the sight.  
  
“It’s alright sweetheart, no need to be shy,” Wonwoo tells her, walking over and picking her up to hold her in his arms. “You remember Mingyu right?” he then asks, even though it’s quite obvious that she does.  
  
She nods anyway, one arm wrapped around Wonwoo’s neck and still holding a firm grip of her teddy bear with her other hand as her eyes stay glued to Mingyu.  
  
“I’m making pancakes for breakfast, is that alright with you, Nari?” he asks, enjoying the way she keeps beaming at his mere presence. And well, at the prospect of getting pancakes, Mingyu supposes.  
  
She gives another nod, one with a little more force to show how eager she is, then she turns back to her dad and whispers (loud enough that Mingyu can hear it, but he pretends not to), “Look daddy, I found Bora!”  
  
By now Mingyu has come to realize that Bora is the name of the teddy bear, and judging by the worn look of him he’s a favourite of hers.  
  
“That’s great, princess. Where was he hiding?”  
  
“Under the bed! He’s been there all along and now he’s really sad!”  
  
“Under the bed?” Wonwoo asks, feigning shock and smacking a hand to his forehead. “How could I forget to look under there? Silly me!”  
  
Nari giggles and hugs Bora closer to her body, and Mingyu has to tear his eyes away from the cute scene before he completely forgets about the task at hand. He looks around for the supplies he’ll need and only stops for a moment once he’s got a bowl in front of him and is about to crack the eggs.  
  
“I’ll make some extra pancakes for Bora, how ‘bout that? Do you think that’ll cheer him up?”  
  
“It will! I really think so!” she agrees excitedly. “He  _says_  it will! He’s  _really_  hungry, Mingyu!”  
  
“I’m not surprised, he’s been gone for days! Can’t imagine there’s anything edible under that bed,” Wonwoo mumbles, smiling warmly at the exchange and giving Mingyu a look that he can only interpret as approval. And with that Mingyu is reminded that he actually doesn’t belong here. Not yet at least. Somehow he’s been feeling right at home ever since he got here.  
  
“You have to pick the shell out first!”  
  
Mingyu breaks out of his thoughts and looks up at Nari. She’s closer now, sitting on her own stool near Mingyu to watch him as he works.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Dad always picks up the shell from the bowl before he keeps mixing, otherwise there’ll be shell in the pancakes,” Nari explains, sounding way too educational for a three year old.  
  
He looks over at Wonwoo and can’t help the fond smile that’s tugging at his lips when he sees the blush on his otherwise pale cheeks. The resemblance between him and Nari is striking.  
  
“We’ve already established that I’m a terrible cook, don’t look so surprised,” Wonwoo says, a playful glint in his eye that makes Mingyu bite his cheek not to shoot back another comment and turn it into a full on banter.

He really wishes he’d met Wonwoo under different circumstances.


	3. 삼

Mingyu isn’t sure what he expected when he first met Wonwoo, all he really knew yesterday was what Jeonghan had told him; that Jeon Wonwoo the popstar was looking for someone who could watch his kid. And since Mingyu’s only ever worked with kids at a daycare before he feels like an idiot when Wonwoo goes over his demands a couple of hours (and one too many ‘ _oh my god, marry me please_ ’ over the pancakes) later.  
  
“The schedule won’t be the same from week to week but I’ll make sure you get two days off somehow, yeah? I’ll pay for your rent of course, so don’t worry about that, and you’re more than welcome to stay here on your days and nights off.”  
  
And oh,  _Mingyu will be living here_. The light bulb above his head is surely shining brighter than it ever has before.  _Of course_  he has to stay here, Wonwoo doesn’t have a normal nine to five job and Nari needs to be taken care of in the evenings too.  
  
They walk up the stairs to the second floor, Nari gripping his hand firmly now that she’s warmed up to him. She seems just as excited about Mingyu living with them as Mingyu feels.  
  
“I’ll have to go to Japan, China and Thailand at some point and you’ll probably have to come along, I hope that’s not too much of a bother,” Wonwoo continues, managing to sound apologetic about just about everything, even though it all seems like dream deals to Mingyu. “And yeah, this will be your room. Mine and Nari’s are the ones down the hall. There is some furniture in here already, as you can see, but we can get whatever you want and you should bring whatever you want from your place to make you feel at home, alright?”  
  
“I, uh,” Mingyu stutters, stumbling over his own words as he eyes the room and the giant bed that takes up most of the space. It’s twice as big as the one he’s got at home and he’s already certain that Wonwoo will have to force him away from here if he wants him to leave on a day off.  
  
“Alright. Yeah, uh. Definitely alright.”

* * *

Mingyu doesn’t own a lot of stuff, he’s never really cared too much about material things. He doesn’t want to show up at Wonwoo’s house empty-handed though, that would look ridiculous and a bit sad. And it will probably feel nice to have some of his own things to look at now that he’s practically moving into a house to live there with people he barely knows. _Yet_. He barely knows them  _yet_ , but he’s eager to change that. Not that he's so sure of how well he'll get to know Wonwoo, though. He’s a busy man who’ll probably want some peace and quiet once he gets home, and Mingyu figures he’ll be better off keeping to himself to give Wonwoo some quality time with his daughter whenever he can. If he’s lucky he’ll manage a conversation with his boss over coffee some mornings.  
  
He’ll need some clothes, of course. And he contemplates bringing his toothbrush before he figures he might as well by a new one on his way to work so that he’ll have one at his apartment and one at the house and save himself some trouble. He adds a few other necessities to the pile, such as his computer and the picture of himself and his sister on the day of her graduation, then he gives up and leaves the apartment, locking the door and feeling oddly satisfied knowing that it’ll be at least a few days until he’s back again.  
  
When he arrives to the house and knocks at the door the only thing to convince him that it’s not yesterday is Wonwoo’s clothes. He’s wearing tight jeans and a normal white t-shirt instead of sweats, but everything else is the same; his hand on Mingyu’s upper arm as he’s tugging him through the door and the ushering words that fall out of his mouth as they hurry into the house, and for a moment Mingyu wonders if this is how Wonwoo always answers the door.  
  
“You’re punctual, I like that in a man. I am myself, you see, and I have to leave in three minutes if I’m gonna stay true to my words. Nari’s in the kitchen, she’ll show you everything you need to see and know,” he says, still holding on to the sleeve of Mingyu’s shirt. “I’m really sorry to be rushing out on you like this and not showing you around, I’ll make it up to you though, yeah?”  
  
He doesn’t wait for an answer, opting to sprint down the hall and soon Mingyu can hear him saying a loving good bye to his daughter while Mingyu himself is left wondering why in the world Wonwoo feels like he owes him anything as he takes off his shoes and repositions the strap of his bag on his shoulder.  
  
The stressed man comes back a moment later, waves and grins like a maniac, and heads out of the house without another word. Mingyu blinks, unsure of what just happened, and doesn’t move until he feels a small hand taking a hold of his fingers. When he looks down he sees a gentler version of Wonwoo’s grin on the girl’s face.  
  
“I missed you,” she says softly, cheeks going a light shade of pink at the confession as if she’s unsure if Mingyu is the kind of person you can say such things to. “Are you staying here now? Dad says you’ll be.”  
  
Mingyu’s chest feels tight and he can’t remember a time when someone’s ever managed to make such an impact on him so quickly. He probably shouldn’t be so attached already. Probably shouldn’t be this attached ever.  
  
But then again, it’s no secret that Mingyu’s never really learned how to keep his emotions in check.  
  
“I  _am_  staying here! At least for a while, to see if I fit in here,” he replies, hoping it’s a good enough explanation. He’s not too sure of how detailed to be with her, hasn’t gotten to know Wonwoo’s preferences for how his kid should be taken care of yet. Suddenly the prospect of being all alone with Nari all day seems utterly frightening. He never thought one kid would be scarier than a whole bunch of them.  
  
“You do! You fit! It’s a  _big_  house!” she exclaims. “You can stay  _forever_.”  
  
“You won’t need a nanny  _forever_ , love. What about when you’re all grown up?”  
  
Nari stares at him, her whole face scrunching up as she obviously tries to come up with a solution to the sudden problem. Mingyu figures that this might be a good time to change the subject.  
  
“How ‘bout you show me where my room is so I can put my stuff in there?” he asks, adding a dramatic tone to his voice as he continues. “I know you showed me where it was yesterday but I seem to have forgotten.”  
  
Nari giggles, and if she'd been a bit older she probably would have called him a mildly offensive name and dragged him along to the stairs. That’s what Mingyu used to do as a kid, at least. He still does, actually. At least when it comes to Jeonghan. But now she just nods with an earnest expression and holds his hand as she leads the way.  
  
The bed hasn’t gotten smaller since yesterday and if he hadn’t been in the presence of a three year old he definitely would have jumped on top of it while squealing. Instead, he settles for walking over in rushed steps and throwing his bag on it before laying down beside it.  
  
Just a moment later he can feel the bed dip, and from the corner of his eye he can see Nari climbing up and crawling over to sit right next to him where she can study him properly. She lets out a quiet hum, then she copies his position; arms spread out to the sides so that her left hand is touching Mingyu’s arm and head tilted to the side so that she can see if Mingyu moves. He does, of course, and revels in the pure joy that’s coming out in the form of bright laughter when the girl tries to keep up with his changes.

* * *

Mingyu is of course a bit clueless. He doesn’t know where anything is and has to spend an unnecessary amount of time of the day looking for them. He learns the contents of Nari’s room pretty quickly though, pulling clothes out of the closet even though she insists that her pink little nightgown with puppies on it will work perfectly fine as a dress for the day. He helps himself to things in the kitchen when lunchtime rolls around, and once they’ve cleared the plates (and Nari’s face) he’s just about to agree with her wish to go to the playground when he realizes that he doesn’t have a key to the house and that leaving it is quite the impossibility. She doesn’t take it that well at first, but once Mingyu claims that he definitely heard Bora calling for them from upstairs she is quick to give in to the teddy bear’s demands. If Mingyu ends up spending an hour of his afternoon sitting in a tiny chair while sipping at imaginary tea from a very small cup he doesn’t complain about it once.

He actually quite enjoys it.

* * *

In some magical way he manages to have dinner ready at the exact moment Wonwoo steps through the door. He knows that he’s here as Nari’s nanny, and even though they have yet to discuss details like these he’s pretty sure that Wonwoo never meant for Mingyu to cook for him too. The fact that Mingyu really wants to is something he refuses to think of as anything other than his polite side acting up. It’s a nice thing to do, and besides; why only cook for one when they are three people in need of food?  
  
Nari’s whole face lights up, but even though she’s obviously in a rush to get to her dad she takes her time to carefully climb off the stool she’s been sitting on while Mingyu’s been cooking before she runs into Wonwoo’s open arms. He picks her up, twirls her around a little, and listens as she tells him all about what’s happened while he’s been gone.  
  
Mingyu’s name is mentioned with passion in every sentence and it feels like the greatest accomplishment in the world when Wonwoo says, “Sounds like you’ve had fun, princess. We must’ve picked the right man for the job, huh?”  
  
Mingyu looks up just in time to meet Nari’s sparkling eyes as she nods happily, and he ducks his head just as quickly to hide his blush. The only thing left to do is set the table, so he grabs plates and glasses but is surprised when Wonwoo’s hands come into his view, taking everything from his hold with a gentle smile and walking off to do the work for him.

Mingyu feels a little dumbfounded and stands completely still for far too long before deciding to check on the food again, even though it’s already finished and definitely doesn’t  _need_  checking up on.  
  
“Have you washed your hands, princess?”  
  
Nari tells her father _yes_ and waves her hands around to make her point. Wonwoo still looks over at Mingyu for conformation and that gentle smile reappears as soon as he gets it.  
  
It’s still there when they take a seat and he says, “I don’t think this house has ever smelled this good before.” He makes a show of breathing in the air right above his plate and Nari giggles and tries to do the same above hers. It proves to be a bit hard with Mingyu’s hands in the way as he cuts her food into smaller pieces.  
  
“I really appreciate this, but you do know that you don’t have to do this in the future, yeah? I mean, you  _are_  here for Nari after all.”  
  
Mingyu looks across the table and smiles at Wonwoo’s concerned expression. “I don’t mind, though.”  
  
Wonwoo looks like he’s about to protest so Mingyu raises his eyebrow in what he thinks will be a convincing way, and the sigh that escapes the older’s lips tells him that it is. “Alright then. Guess I could do with someone looking after me sometimes, too.”  
  
They grin at each other while Nari mumbles around a mouthful of food, and neither of them have the energy or desire to tell her off for it. He realizes that a handful of lit candles and a bottle of wine would make this look a whole lot like a date and the insight makes him rather uncomfortable. He came to terms with his attraction to Wonwoo when he first laid eyes on him, but he’s very aware of the fact that he can’t take it any further. One small, stupid daydream and he’ll be truly fucked and he’s already teetering too close to the edge. The fact that Wonwoo acts more like a friend than a boss might have something to do with it. His gorgeous looks and appealing personality might also be involved in the problem. Mingyu’s stupidity is probably the biggest factor, though.  
  
Mingyu’s inner battle eventually makes him ask Wonwoo about keys for the house - it seems like a professional thing to do - which earns him one of Wonwoo’s boisterous laughs along with too many apologies for his ‘forgetfulness’. Then they’re back to the  _seemingly normal_  banter and Mingyu’s attempt to keep things professional must not have been very obvious. Maybe he’ll try again tomorrow. Enjoy the happy feeling in his stomach while he can.  
  
“Oh yeah, Jeonghan says hi, by the way,” Wonwoo says. “Wanted me to tell you that you’re an a-r-s-e for not telling him that you’ve practically moved and forgot to tell him.”  
  
Nari keeps chewing as if her life depends on it and Mingyu almost drops his chin on his plate. If Wonwoo is forgetful Mingyu is way, way worse and he really wants to recycle his previous argument and blame this little mishap on Wonwoo’s good looks, Wonwoo’s lovely personality and his own stupidity. It seems fair.  
  
“Think you spelled out the wrong word there, Wonwoo,” Mingyu says instead of giving Wonwoo the satisfaction to see him all flustered.  
  
Wonwoo’s brow scrunches up as he thinks. “No I didn’t.”  
  
“You totally did. Arse it alright, it’s J-e-o-n-g-h-a-n you should be worried about. The longer you manage to keep Nari away from him, the better.”  
  
And maybe Wonwoo snorts into his glass of water, and maybe Mingyu is so incredibly fucked already. But that’s not important. What’s important is that Mingyu is one of those people who knows how to ignore his own problems until they catch up with him and bite him in the ass, and that he very well intends to do just that and hope that he’ll somehow manages to avoid the consequences just this once.


	4. 사

Nari is at the daycare Tuesday to Thursday between nine in the morning and two in the afternoon, just so that she gets some interaction with kids her age and has some friends to play with. Those fifteen hours are the absolute worst part of Mingyu’s week if Wonwoo happens to be in the studio at the same time, ‘cause Mingyu just doesn’t know what to do all by himself in a house like that and he’s grown too fond of the little girl not to miss her.  
  
Picking her up those three days is his second favourite part of the week, mostly because she always drops whatever is in her hands and runs over to hug him the second she sees him.  
  
His  _favourite_  part of every week, though, is the days Wonwoo doesn’t have anything on his agenda and stays home all day. Those days are supposed to be Mingyu’s days off and he should probably do something with them, like… Go back to his flat, do some shopping, sleep in, and see Jeonghan. That kind of things.  
  
He obviously doesn’t.  
  
He spends his very first day off in his room in the house, skyping with his sister for a while and talking to Jeonghan on the phone for an even longer while since the Joshua stories seem to have piled up since they last spoke. Around lunchtime there’s a knock on the door and after a second both Wonwoo's and Nari’s heads show up in the crack of the door, wearing identical smiles which seem to be there with the sole purpose to coax Mingyu out of his room. It works. Especially when Wonwoo tells him with a stern voice that if he’ll just lay around and do nothing all day and he’s not actually bored with them already, then he might as well just hang out with them and make their day even better.  
  
Mingyu should probably feel ashamed of his behaviour, but he figures that with a job as nice as the one he’s got he doesn’t really need days off anyway. And as long as he manages to keep himself convinced that he’s doing it all for  _Nari_  it should be okay.

* * *

It’s a Friday when Mingyu comes back to the house from a trip to the store and ends up slightly surprised to find a car that doesn’t belong there on the driveway. Wonwoo has had some people over since he started working for them but he’s never really met them, just shared a quick hello at most before they’ve headed down to the basement where Wonwoo’s workspace is. It’s basically just a room filled with instruments (even has a small guitar that Nari is supposed to get when she’s a little older.)  
  
So Mingyu doesn’t think about it too much as he carefully parks the car where there’s room (he’s still a little freaked out when he’s driving it, scared that he’ll hit something and cause a dent somewhere even though Wonwoo tells him not to worry.) He lets Nari out of the backseat, mind already set on the dinner he’s going to get started on when he’s unpacked all the groceries as he hands Nari the lightest bag since she’s so insistent to help.  
  
“Do we have guest?” the girl questions, having stopped behind him to look at the unknown car the best she can with the bag in her arms blocking most of her view.  
  
“Looks like it,” Mingyu chuckles. “I guess we’ll find out if we go inside, won't we?”  
  
Nari’s thoughtful look turns into a smile and she quickly catches up to him and says, “And then we will do the spaghetti? I’m  _really_  hungry.”  
  
“I think we can make kimchi and kakdugi right away, doll, it is dinner time already. The guest will probably come and say bye before they leave anyway, anything else would be  _rude_ ,” he says, putting on an offended face for a second before winking at her, and that keeps Nari laughing even as they walk into the house.  
  
He takes Nari’s shoes off of her feet so that she won’t have to put the bag down, and asks her to place it somewhere near the fridge since he knows she won’t be able to reach up and put it on the counter. Once he’s gotten his own shoes off and has a good hold of the rest of the bags, though, he finds the little girl standing in the doorway to the kitchen, a timid look on her face as she continues to hug the bag to her stomach.

It takes him about three seconds to realize that Wonwoo is in the kitchen along with a taller guy with raven hair and a small but serene smile on his face. There’s something familiar about him that he can’t really pinpoint, but for all Mingyu knows he might have seen him in a magazine or something, modelling or just making people feel good by looking so gorgeous.  
  
He shakes his head and chuckles down at his little companion by the door, taking her bag and going over to the island to put everything down. Out of the corner of his eye he sees that Nari is quick to follow him, but what really tips him off is the fact that she wraps an arm around his left knee and refuses to let go even as he moves.  
  
He eventually crouches down, lowers his voice just a little, and asks, “Do you know him, love?”  
  
She nods, and after a few seconds of silence she whispers, “He’s Coups.”  
  
“Coups?” Mingyu asks, standing back up and finally getting to the part where his polite side gets what it wants; he reaches out and shakes the guy's hand while his brain is working on overdrive. “Choi Seungcheol?  _That’s_  why you look so familiar!”  
  
He sounds a bit too enthusiastic but he always gets that way when he figures things out. “You’ve done some great songs, man.”  
  
Seungcheol’s smile grows bigger, and it's quite the spectacular thing to see. “Thanks!”  
  
Wonwoo, who’s been unusually quiet and mostly just watched his daughter with a fond smile since they first entered the room, finally speaks up. “Wait a minute. You know  _his_ ,” he says and points an accusing finger at Seungcheol, “music, but you’ve completely ignored mine?”  
  
He sounds really upset about it too, making the guilt in Mingyu’s stomach grow in an alarming speed.  
  
“Yeah, well, uh,” he starts off in that brilliant way of his, moving back to the bags on the counter to unpack them with a three year old still clinging to his leg. He doesn’t understand why she’s so shy, especially when she’s obviously met Seungcheol before. She warmed up to Mingyu much quicker when they first met.  
  
“I didn’t actually care about his music either – no offence, Seungcheol – until Jeonghan lured me in by telling me about a song of his,” he eventually manages to explain. The two men both look at him with confused expressions, although Seungcheol’s got a curios tilt to his while Wonwoo just seems plain irritated. “I automatically like anyone who likes ZIco.”  
  
The conversation apparently that’s interesting enough for Nari to break out of her shell. She leaves her position behind Mingyu’s leg and goes over to look at them.  
  
“I have a friend who likes Dibo, the Gift Dragon, as much as I do, Mingyu. Does that mean you and Coups are friends?”  
  
“I guess you could say that,” Seungcheol answers before Mingyu has the time to sputter out some badly chosen words like he usually does. He is just about to turn back to the groceries when Wonwoo shoos him away and does the job for him.  
  
“I don't know  _what_ a Zico is. I don't know if dad likes it. So you don't like dad?”  
  
_Great_ , just when he thought he had dodged the bullet.  
  
Wonwoo’s face has finally softened though, his eyes warmer and his mouth no longer set in a tight line. Mingyu doesn’t allow himself to think about how he most likely was to blame for the mood swing in the first place, he just takes in Wonwoo’s expectant look and uses it as an encouragement as he speaks the truth and hopes he won’t get in trouble for it.  
  
“Of course I do, princess. I like him  _very_  much, just like I like you,” he says, tapping her nose lightly with a finger. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise, would I? Imagine that! Living with someone you don’t like, that would be  _horrible_!”  
  
Nari’s smile is coming back. “Like if I didn’t like Bora?” she asks.  
  
“Exactly like that,” he agrees, even though it isn’t. He thinks it’s easier for her to understand this way though.  
  
“Okay, but does dad know that?” Nari whispers, even though Seungcheol has started up a conversation with Wonwoo by the fridge and neither of the two are listening.  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“Does dad know that you like him? How is he supposed to know? You never hug him like you hug me,” she says, and Mingyu questions why kids are allowed to be so observant at times. And so  _smart_ , ‘cause even though he hates to admit it she  _does_  have a point. Adults aren’t brilliant when it comes to communication.  
  
“Well, I’m working here, right? Your dad is my boss, and there are rules to be followed to make sure everything is right, okay? But I’m sure he knows anyway, ‘cause like I said, I wouldn’t be here if we didn’t all get along,” he explains. He does so really badly. Badly enough that he’s managed to convince himself that something with this whole arrangement is wrong and that Wonwoo doesn’t like him at all, and he wonders if he’s really fit to be working with kids when he can’t even explain the simplest of things in a good way.  
  
Needless to say; the sad face stays. And it gets even worse when Wonwoo comes over to Mingyu’s side with the prettiest of smiles to tell him not to cook any dinner. Apparently Seungcheol is staying and they’ve already ordered pizza for everyone that they will eat in front of a movie to celebrate that it’s Friday. Nari is absolutely devastated, clinging to Mingyu until he picks her up and crying about kimchi into his shoulder as Wonwoo looks back and forth between Mingyu and Nari with a crushed expression, clearly worried that he’s done something wrong without realizing it.  
  
“She’s just tired. And she really wanted kimchi, I think,” he tells Wonwoo before he directs his words to the sad girl in his arms. “How about I make some for us for lunch tomorrow instead, love? Will that be alright? And I’m sure you’ll get to pick which movie we’re going to watch if you just go with dad.”  
  
“Of course she will,” Wonwoo says with a soft voice, and when Nari finally looks up he takes her from Mingyu’s arms with the most thankful expression he's ever seen, and Mingyu has to look away.  
  
“Are you coming?” Wonwoo then asks, forcing Mingyu to look back up and meet his eyes. He’s glad that every trace of irritation that was there earlier has been wiped away, the brown in them didn’t seem right with that touch of black.  
  
“Yeah, I just have to get something from my room first,” he replies, trying out a smile and almost bursting with it when Wonwoo smiles back, mouthing an okay as if he can’t find his voice.

* * *

It takes Mingyu a while to find what he’s looking for, and once he comes back down to the living room the pizza has already arrived and Seungcheol is busy trying to fit the boxes on the table. Nari seems to have calmed down completely but she still looks too sad for a kid who’s about to eat pizza and watch her favorite show, so he crushes every nervous thought in his mind and heads over to where she’s sitting in Wonwoo’s lap, silently watching Seungcheol’s struggle.  
  
He leans down, taps Wonwoo on the shoulder to get his attention, and whispers, “Just go with this, okay? You can take it off as soon as she’s fallen asleep, just… I think she’ll be happy.”  
  
Wonwoo looks confused, of course. He has no idea of what Mingyu is talking about and it’s quite hard to figure it out without a clue to go on. It’s actually not until Mingyu has tied the string of leather he grabbed from his room around Wonwoo’s wrist and he's holding out his own next to it that it finally dawns on him what’s going on, and Mingyu thinks he might actually die of embarrassment if it turns out that Wonwoo hates the idea and wants to take it off before Nari has even seen it.  
  
But he doesn’t. He doesn’t take it off, he doesn’t even hate it, if the smile on his face – and the glint in his eyes, especially – is anything to go by. He just looks at Mingyu for far longer than necessary before he shows Nari, talking excitedly about the sign of friendship and grabbing Mingyu’s wrist to show his daughter when Mingyu is too lost in thought to do it himself.  
  
Wonwoo doesn’t take the ribbon off. Not when Nari has fallen asleep. Not the day after either. It takes him a few days, but eventually Mingyu learns how to keep himself from grinning every time he sees it.


	5. 오

Mingyu isn’t sure why he’s waking up in the middle of the night, it’s either due to the rumbling sky outside of his window or the absolutely heart wrenching sobs that are travelling from the hallway and through the seam of his closed door to get to him. Not that the reason really matters anymore, ‘cause now that he’s up and has had about ten seconds to process the too many things that are going on at three in the morning his instincts are kicking in and the thunder outside is really the last thing he cares about.  
  
He plants his bare feet on the hardwood floor, pulls his t-shirt so that it isn’t completely twisted around his body, and is just about to stand up when there’s a knock on the door. It opens up right after, so he’s still sitting on the edge of his bed when Wonwoo steps in with a crying Nari in his arms.  
  
“Hi, I’m sorry if we woke you, it’s just- The thunder, and Nari, and I-” Wonwoo says. It's a mess of words spoken in a sleepy voice and even through the dark it’s easy to tell that he looks miserable and desperate for something Mingyu is unsure if he will be able to give away.  
  
He keeps looking, hoping for Wonwoo’s sake as well as Nari’s and his own, that there will come another explanation. A better one.  
  
“She’s afraid of the thunder,” Wonwoo says slowly, taking a tentative step into the room. Mingyu just nods, because he has kind of figured that out already.  
  
“And she obviously woke up and got scared and started crying,” Wonwoo continues, taking it step by step as if it’s the only way he’ll manage to get it all out in the right order.  
  
“And usually she just comes into my room, and I’ll comfort her until the worst of the thunder has passed and she’s able to fall asleep again, but, like. She didn’t come tonight, she just kept crying. I could hear her through the door.”  
  
Mingyu nods again and twists his fingers together to calm the itch in them that comes from watching Nari so sad and not being able to hug her.  
  
“So I went to check on her and I found her in the hallway right by her door. She just,” Wonwoo says, and now Mingyu is sure he can detect a nervous tone in his words. “ _She didn’t know where to go_. She wanted to be with the _both of us_ and she didn’t know where to go, and I can’t  _do_  that to her, I mean, look at her!”  
  
It’s an unnecessary demand ‘cause Mingyu has a hard time forcing his eyes away from the little girl. He is listening to what Wonwoo is saying though, and he understands that Wonwoo is scared to ask Mingyu for this. What he doesn’t understand, though, is  _why_. Because even though he  _is_  working for Wonwoo he thought he had made it obvious by now how much he cares for Nari and would do anything for her – for her  _and_  Wonwoo actually.  
  
“Wonwoo, don’t be stupid. Just… Climb in, yeah? It’s a big bed, I’m sure we’ll all fit.”  
  
This must be one of the most inappropriate things he could do; inviting his boss and the kid he’s looking after into his bed (and getting butterflies in his stomach at the very thought of being so close to Wonwoo.) But Wonwoo smiles so very gratefully at him and eases Nari down on the bed before he goes over to the side of it to make himself comfortable, and Mingyu thinks that the whole situation is unfair and that no one in their right mind would be able to share a bed with Jeon Wonwoo and not fall a little bit in love. So he should be okay.  
  
Nari crawls over to him and clings to his t-shirt, and the itch in his fingers finally goes away when he can embrace her in a hug and whisper soothing words into her ear while the thunder seems to get closer with every lightning that brightens the room.  
  
“You know what, princess?” he asks eventually, detaching her small hands from his shirt and laying her down in the space between himself and Wonwoo. “I know that it sounds like the sky is  _really_  angry and wants to hurt us, but do you know what  _I_  think?”  
  
Nari shakes her head, tears still running down her cheeks even though the sobs have faded. He smiles down at her and shifts so that he’s resting beside her.  
  
“I think it’s just hungry. Sounds a lot like dad’s stomach when he wants food, doesn’t it?”  
  
The comment is apparently unexpected ‘cause Wonwoo snorts from the other side of the bed and when Mingyu looks up and meets his amused eyes it turns into an actual chuckle that makes the room seem warmer. He doesn’t even pretend to feel offended, and Mingyu is very pleased with it.  
  
They all get under the covers, Wonwoo tucking Nari in before he settles on his side so that he’s facing the other two, and whenever a new bout of thunder breaks the silence both men make sure to huddle closer to the girl in a desperate try to shield her from her fears and make her stop shaking. It takes a while, close to an hour, before the evil clouds have drifted off far enough not to scare her anymore and eventually she falls asleep in a seemingly peaceful slumber, her head on Mingyu’s pillow and her right arm wrapped around Wonwoo’s.  
  
It’s about then that Mingyu finally relaxes enough to let his thoughts kick in, and hey,  _he is in bed with Wonwoo_. Wonwoo actually came into Mingyu’s room and asked – well, not with words but very well with his eyes – for his help and company in a very intimate family moment.  
  
Mingyu would obsess over it all if he wasn’t so god damn tired.  
  
“I’m usually better at this,” Wonwoo suddenly says. His voice is low, soft and everything Mingyu never knew he needed to hear at four in the morning.  
  
“At what? Sleeping?”  
  
Wonwoo snorts again and Mingyu loves it. He just wishes that Wonwoo would look at him instead of the ceiling.  
  
“At being a dad. At handling these situations,” Wonwoo corrects, and he sounds so mad with himself.  
  
“ _Shut up_ ,” Mingyu says harshly, even though he’s almost whispering. “You’re a great dad, Nari adores you. I swear, she talks about you  _all the time_ and it’s  _always_  good things. Things that would make any dad proud. And this, that happened tonight? It’s probably just because I’ve spent so much time with her lately. She’s a bit confused, that’s all.”  
  
Mingyu studies Wonwoo’s face and lets out a satisfied sigh when he notices that his jaw relaxes and the lines on his forehead disappears.  
  
His own words have something to them, though. Mingyu thinks about it in the silence that takes over the room and he realizes that maybe he needs to give Wonwoo some time. Some time to be a dad for his daughter and spend some time with her without Mingyu in the way. He has just barged into their lives and walks around the house as if he always belonged here, when in reality he doesn’t actually have a lot to say about anything. He doesn’t have the right to.  
  
“I guess you’re right. I think I overreacted because it was so different to what I’m used to, you know? I mean, now that I think about it it’s actually nice that she has the two of us, isn’t it? I’m glad she trusts you so much, it makes me feel good to know that you’re here to look after her.”  
  
And yeah, now that Wonwoo is finally looking at him Mingyu kind of wishes that he wouldn’t, because his expression is so earnest and the words hit him right in the chest and make him want to lean over and kiss him and that would be inappropriate with Nari in the bed. Would be inappropriate without her in the bed too, actually. _Fucking hell_.  
  
Wonwoo doesn’t wait for a response and Mingyu is happy ‘cause he can’t come up with something to say anyway. “Maybe I should spend some more time with her. I thought I was already, I worry a lot about neglecting her and I didn’t think I was but-“  
  
“You’re not. Not at all,” Mingyu interrupts. “That’s not what I was saying, I just mean that I’m around all the time and maybe that’s become a sign of safety for her too? So having the both of us close feels like the ultimate protection.”  
  
Wonwoo smiles at him, all private and fond and Mingyu is too far into this. Too lost already. Will not come out of this in one piece. He’ll have to patch himself up later, when the day comes and he won’t be able to ignore his problems anymore. Today is not that day, though.  
  
“Yeah. Well, I’ll still spend some time with her. It will be good for the both of us,” Wonwoo says, punctuating it with a yawn which reminds Mingyu of how tired he is.  
  
He learns that night that there’s nothing more painful than falling asleep in a bed that’s crowded with the family you wish you could call your own.

* * *

When Mingyu wakes up some hours later the other two are still asleep; Nari hugging Mingyu’s right arm as if she thinks it is Bora and Wonwoo’s feet tangled with Mingyu’s. He has never woken up happier, that’s for sure.  
  
He plants a light kiss on Nari’s forehead, forces himself not to do the same to Wonwoo, and reluctantly leaves the room to head down and prepare breakfast. Wonwoo still scolds him for doing it, claiming that he’s spoiling Wonwoo way too much with all the nice things he does for him, and that’s the exact reason to why he keeps doing it. Wonwoo’s smile is worth everything.  
  
Once dad and daughter are seated by the table Mingyu goes back to his room to get the very few things he’ll need for a night away, sending off a text to Jeonghan to ask him for some company in the process. To his surprise the response comes just a few minutes later, containing an offer to pick Mingyu up and everything. He’s too stunned to ask why Jeonghan is awake this early and settles with a ‘that would be lovely, thank you’ as a reply.  
  
“Be good to dad, okay princess?” he says when he re-enters the kitchen, leaning over Nari’s head and looking at her face upside down. “I want to hear about all the fun you’ve had when I come back tomorrow.”  
  
Nari has her whole mouth full of cereal which means that she can’t ask Mingyu why he’s leaving and where he’s going and all the other thousand questions he knows for a fact are spinning around in that cute head of hers.  
  
He straightens his back again, looks at Wonwoo and his perplexed expression and tells him, “It’s my day off so I figured I’d head back to my place for a change.”  
  
Wonwoo nods, seems to accept it even though his eyes look a little sad. Maybe he’d made plans that involved Mingyu for today, or maybe he’s just upset that Mingyu didn’t tell him about this earlier. Anyway, he doesn’t look too bothered until Mingyu speaks up again.  
  
“I mean, you wanted some time with Nari so I thought this would be a good time for me to get out of your way.”  
  
He forces a smile and turns around to head for the hallway, which means he misses the way Wonwoo’s face falls completely.  
  
“No, Mingyu, I-" Wonwoo protests, hurrying out of his chair to catch up with the other man, “I didn’t mean it like that, I- You should  _never_  think that you’re not wanted here, okay?  _Don’t_.”  
  
Mingyu has trouble breathing. “It’s okay, Wonwoo. I know it’s not like that, I just. Well, I’m _just_ the nanny, _right?_ I work for you, I shouldn’t crash your family time, I don’t think. Just tell me when to get off and I will, I don’t want things to be strange for you.”  
  
He has an apology on the tip of his tongue but he manages to stop it from falling out of his mouth and he is very thankful for that, because he’s not too sure of what he wants to apologize for. For possibly being a little bit in love with Wonwoo? For wishing he was living in this house for a whole other reason than being the nanny? For the fifty other inappropriate things he could list in his mind if he was given a minute to think about it?  
  
He sighs, shakes his head and raises his hand to wave lamely before Wonwoo has the time to answer him.  
  
“Jeonghan is waiting, I better go. Call me if anything happens, otherwise I’ll be back tomorrow morning.”  
  
When he walks out he can’t help but wonder if the pained look on Wonwoo’s face meant that Mingyu was right about making things strange for him, or if it was because Wonwoo was keeping some things unsaid as well.


	6. 육

It’s Nari’s birthday on Sunday and Wonwoo decided early on that he wanted to throw the party on a Saturday. He decided just as early to only invite people that he likes, meaning that there won’t be a bunch of kids coming, which in turn means that the sharks from the playground won’t be there either. Mingyu is beyond grateful for that, because he’s running out of excuses not to talk to them.  
  
He can’t believe Nari is turning four years old, and he definitely can’t believe that he’s only known her for two months out of those four years. That’s forty-six months of her life that he has completely missed out on. The thought is actually devastating and makes a lump form in his throat so he tries not to go there, but his mind tricks him every twenty minutes or so and he ends up staring off into the distance for minutes before something else catches his attention and distracts him.  
  
Like Seungcheol’s now familiar voice calling for him from down the hall and his head peaking though the open door to his room just a few seconds later.  
  
“ _Dongsaeng!_ You good Mingyu?” he asks, gladly accepting the hug Mingyu offers and grabbing him by his shoulders once they separate to look at him properly.   
  
“I’m quite alright, actually. You?”  
  
“I’m spending my day celebrating a four year old, so you know…” Seungcheol trails off, doing as Mingyu’s hand gestures and taking a seat on Mingyu’s bed. “Thrilled. Ecstatic. Never been better.”  
  
Mingyu shakes his head and goes over to his closet to find something to wear, laughing lightly as he says, “Can’t fool me, Seungcheol. You may look and sound like you don’t give a shit but your eyes give it all away. You wouldn’t be anywhere but here even if you’d been assured that Wonwoo wouldn’t kill you for missing this.”  
  
“Yeah, well. You’re a very nice man, Kim Mingyu. My secret will be safe with you,” Seungcheol responds. “And that’s why I like you so much. Besides, even if you weren’t such a nice guy you’d still keep shut, ‘cause otherwise I’d ruin…  _This_.”  
  
He adds such a dramatic tone to that last word that Mingyu’s convinced that he’s teaching an acting class for kids when he’s not sprawled on the couch in this very house. Especially since he manages to pull something out of his bag at the same time, wearing a triumphant expression that stays on his face until it shifts to a frustrated one. It appears that Mingyu’s reaction is a bad one, or at least; one that Seungcheol wasn’t expecting.  
  
“ _The book_ , Mingyu,” he eventually clarifies, and  _oh_.  
  
“ _The book_?” Mingyu repeats, his voice getting high with tentative excitement. “It was finished in time?”  
  
“It was,” Seungcheol confirms, shaking the book a little as if it’s a toy and Mingyu is a dog. Mingyu drops the jeans he is holding and rushes over to sit next to his friend on the bed, gently accepting the book when it’s offered to him and looking at its pink cover with an overwhelming sense of pride.  
  
It’s shiny, hasn’t ever been open before and creaks a little once Mingyu changes that. It’s new, and Mingyu feels like he’s soiling the pages even though he’s scared to touch and barely gets a grip of the corner of every page. Because it feels magical; the words he’s come up with and spelled out himself are neatly printed in his own childish handwriting to give it a more intimate feeling; the pictures Seungcheol so kindly agreed to draw for him bringing life to his words and making them feel real.  
  
“So there it is. ‘ _The Marvellous Adventures of Princess Jeon Nari_ ’,” Seungcheol reads out. “I’ll tell you what, man. Every kid should have a book like this. It’s pure gold.”  
  
Mingyu ignores his burning cheeks and has to suppress an actual giggle, which means that he never has the time to answer before Wonwoo comes through the open door. His mouth is open, as if he’s got words on the tip of his tongue, and Mingyu can almost see how they die as Wonwoo’s eyes take in the scene he’s walked into.  
  
“Hello, Wonwoo.” Seungcheol greets after a long moment of silence. It’s evident in his voice that he’s finding Wonwoo’s expression amusing, and Mingyu wishes he did too, but it mostly just makes him uncomfortable.  
  
His words seem to burst Wonwoo’s little bubble of contemplation, though, ‘cause he takes a deep breath and a tiny bit of the determination that’s always present in his eyes comes back and makes him look alive again.  
  
“Right. Well, I don’t know ‘bout you two,” he starts off, eyes going back and forth between Seungcheol’s face and Mingyu’s… Well, Mingyu’s naked chest, really. It’s rather unnerving. “But I can’t think of any way in which you two sitting on a bed together, one of you half-naked to top it off, is appropriate at a birthday party for a four year old girl, so if you wouldn’t mind I could really use some help downstairs.”  
  
The words are venomous, but his face is showing a sad kind of confusion that leaves Mingyu feeling guilty even though he’s pretty sure he hasn’t actually done anything to cause this outburst. Maybe he should have forgotten about his outfit problems and just helped out downstairs. It’s what he’s here for, isn’t it? The nanny helps with the kid’s party, surely that must be an obvious one in the Nanny for Dummies book he has yet to find at the book store.  
  
It takes him a while to realize that he’s not actually shaking from nerves, but from the way Seungcheol is doing a very bad job of choking down his laughter. The whole bed is bouncing, actually, and Mingyu really wishes he could get in on the joke and see what’s so funny about the situation.  
  
He gets up instead, grabbing the jeans he’d dropped earlier and giving Wonwoo his most apologetic smile.  
  
“Yeah, of course. I’ll just… Get dressed,” he says, sounding both nervous and sad and cursing himself for the billionth time for never managing to keep his emotions in check. He walks back to the bed, leans down and cups Seungcheol’s cheek to tilt his head upwards before placing a quick kiss on his forehead. He is still incredible thankful, after all.  
  
“Thanks for the help, Seungcheol, you’re a star!”  
  
He might sprint into the bathroom after that, leaving a confused Wonwoo and the ever so amused Seungcheol behind to gather his thoughts, yell at himself for drifting too far off into dreamland where Wonwoo doesn’t think of him as just the nanny that’s here to save the day, and actually get dressed like a proper person.

* * *

To Mingyu’s surprise Wonwoo doesn’t forcibly drag the guests into the house, and he starts to wonder if he saves that behaviour for Mingyu only. To his even bigger surprise the first two guest to arrive are none other than Jeonghan and Joshua. Joshua looks even better in reality than he does in the pictures Jeonghan has shown him and his kindness shows before he’s even stepped through the door. Mingyu is finally starting to understand his best friend’s obsession with the guy, and he sincerely hopes that it will work out in the end.  
  
“Do you really think that that was a smart thing to do?” Mingyu questions once Wonwoo comes into the kitchen a few hours into the party. It isn’t so much a party as it is a hangout, though. A bunch of grown-ups along with a handful of kids that are having a good time, basically. Mingyu would be lying if he said he didn’t like it.  
  
“What?” Wonwoo asks, pulling himself up to sit on the counter next to the glasses Mingyu is filling up.  
  
“Inviting Jeonghan,” Mingyu says, his tone accusing. “Last I saw he was drawing pictures with Nari. He’s going to take that wonderful little kid of yours and turn her into a menace.”  
  
Wonwoo laughs at him as if he said something incredibly funny,  _which he didn’t_ , but it’s not like Mingyu actually cares as long as he gets to hear that wonderful sound and watch that adorable expression on Wonwoo’s face. He is glad that Wonwoo is one of those people who don’t hold a grudge, ‘cause it means that he’s forgotten all about the situation that occurred earlier.  
  
“Relax... What can possibly go wrong? They’re just drawi-"  
  
“ _Dad_!”  
  
Nari comes running into the kitchen with a paper in her hand and an ecstatic look on her face, and Mingyu hisses out a ‘ _this, this can go wrong_ ’ that makes Wonwoo snort and pat him on the shoulder. He doesn’t take his hand away after that, though, deciding instead to put his chin on top of it as he stares down at his little girl that has finally gotten to them.  
  
“Dad, I drew a picture, ‘cause Jeonghan told me to. Look!”  
  
Wonwoo takes it with his free hand and holds it up so that Mingyu can see it as well. He hums, and Mingyu leans back against the counter, his side pressed against Wonwoo’s knee and thigh as he stares at the picture and tries to understand what it’s supposed to be.  
  
Wonwoo, apparently, shares his problem. “What’s it supposed to be, princess? Is that me? And Mingyu?” he asks, obviously asking about the two men in the middle that have hairstyles that resemble Mingyu’s and his own.  
  
Mingyu realizes that the drawing is a little too advanced for a kid Nari’s age, and he can’t really ignore the fact that he recognizes the weird way paper-Mingyu’s hair and tall body have been drawn.  
  
“ _Jeonghan_?” he calls out. “Get in here!”  
  
Jeonghan joins them a moment later, his usual, mischievous grin present as he leans against the fridge and says, “What? I told her to draw what she wants for her birthday. Turns out her wish is great and I couldn’t stop myself from helping her a little.”  
  
Wonwoo doesn’t seem to have a care in the world, as usual. “Well, princess. Wanna tell us what it is, then?”  
  
Nari nods, her expression suddenly serious as she explains, “Mingyu says I can’t marry him because he’s too old, so I drew you marrying him instead so that he’ll always stay with us!”  
  
Jeonghan bursts out laughing, Nari looks up at him with a proud grin, and Wonwoo’s hand tightens around Mingyu’s shoulder. Mingyu himself has stopped breathing and doesn’t know how to form words anymore.  
  
He eventually turns his head a little, facing Wonwoo whose head is still resting right next to his on his shoulder, thinking that they really need to discuss this. This is one of those things that they need to talk about, that needs an explanation that they can give Nari. It’s one of those situations they should have set ground rules for at the beginning and-  
  
“Huh. Guess it’s going up on the fridge, then. Don’t you think?” Wonwoo asks him, eyes big and unreadable and  _what?_  
  
He presses out an confirmation of sorts, ‘cause that’s all he seems able to do with childish cheering and gleeful laughter going on around him, then he detaches himself from Wonwoo’s side and roughly pushes Jeonghan out of the way to get the cake out of the fridge. He needs something to focus on that isn’t Wonwoo’s smile and Wonwoo’s eyes and Wonwoo’s warmth against his own skin, and he would probably be able to do that if it weren’t for the fact that Wonwoo insists on helping him with the preparations when everyone else clears out of the room to return to the party.  
  
Mingyu understands that Wonwoo wants to do this; that it’s his kid that’s turning four and that he wants to be a part of every aspect of the celebration, but this? The two of them hovering over the cake, standing next to each other and breathing in the same air? _It’s too intimate._ Feels like such a couple-y thing to do, and Mingyu’s not a part of this. He’s not  _that_  part of this. He’s not family. He’s not even a friend. He’s supposed to stand in the back and watch, isn’t he? He’s supposed to assist when needed, not act like he belongs at Wonwoo’s side, fixing the cake and moving in sync with him as if they’ve been doing it for years.  
  
He eventually steps back, watches as Wonwoo fusses some more with the cake, listens as Wonwoo sings louder than all of them over the lit candles, pointedly ignores the way Nari beams at him and Wonwoo when she blows them out and has her wish written all over her face, does an even better job at ignoring Wonwoo’s eyes when Nari opens his present and actually shrieks out of joy when she realizes that he’s turned all of her favourite stories about herself into a proper book. He cleans up the mess when everyone but Joshua, Jeonghan and Seungcheol has gone home, carries Nari’s sleeping form upstairs and tucks her into bed, and locks himself in his own room straight after.  
  
When Wonwoo knocks on his door a while later he ignores that too.


	7. 칠

When Mingyu walks into the kitchen the next morning he is surprised to find Wonwoo in there, sipping at his tea and watching Mingyu as he gets closer. It’s an odd sight for Mingyu who’s gotten used to always being the first person in the house to get out of bed, making sure to be up before Nari since it’s his job to take care of her. But it’s nice, the way Wonwoo so obviously avoids the subject of Mingyu’s disappearance last night and just sits there by the table, smiling more with his eyes than his mouth over the brim of his cup and showing Mingyu that he’s happy to see him again.  
  
He realizes that Wonwoo has prepared a cup of tea for him as well, as if this is routine, and all Mingyu has to do is take it from the counter and bring it over to the table while he tries to keep his breathing somewhat regular.  
  
If Wonwoo is making sure that the moment never gets awkward or if he just doesn’t realize Mingyu’s inner struggle is pretty much impossible to tell, but he does speak up before Mingyu breaks and starts to mumble out apologies that lack class and explanations and Mingyu is incredibly thankful for it.  
  
“I looked through the book last night, when everyone had left, I- I read it. The one you gave to Nari,” is what he says, and Mingyu’s chest clenches because he sounds so careful, like he’s really choosing his words and considering them before he says them out loud. It’s something he’s never heard Wonwoo do before and if his behaviour last night is what caused it he might actually hate himself a little.  
  
“Oh,” Mingyu breathes out. “Yeah, it was just something I thought she’d like, it’s nothing special really,” he says. _Lies_ , of course. All lies.  
  
“Sure it’s special. I wanted to tell you last night, I… I wanted to talk to you about it,” Wonwoo assures him, and Mingyu is sure he can hear the echo of Wonwoo’s knock on his door yesterday. The one he so stubbornly ignored because he felt like he was going to burst if he came too close to Wonwoo again. The feeling is still there, only subdued, like there’s a lid on it, keeping it from boiling over or blowing up or simply just tear him apart. He feels breakable in every possible way.  
  
“It’s obvious how much Nari loves it, and how much she loves  _you_ , and I just can’t believe how lucky _we_ are to have you in our lives,” he finishes off, eyes locked with Mingyu’s even when the room goes silent.  
  
Mingyu takes a few breaths, twists the ribbon around his wrist and mumbles, “I think _I’m_ the lucky one here. You’ve helped me a lot while I’ve just sat around your house all day. I mean, I love to be here and take care of Nari but I’m not one in a million, you easily could have gotten another nanny that would have been an even better fit, and…” he trails off, never actually finishing his sentence ‘cause he’s really getting himself into a deep hole of self-pitying where all of the problems he’s been ignoring have gathered to finally bite him in the ass.  
  
“Yeah, ‘cause just about  _anyone_  would’ve written my little girl a book with stories they’d come up with just for her, right? And  _anyone_  would take care of  _me_  just as much as my daughter even though they wouldn’t be supposed to, right?” Wonwoo scoffs, his tone hard and with an edge to it that would have hurt Mingyu immensely if it weren’t for the fact that Wonwoo has that same look on his face now that he has when he’s watching Nari do something bad that he tries hard not to show that he’s actually fond of.  
  
Mingyu doesn’t speak. He doesn’t have the guts to, because he’s not sure if he remembers how to talk and breathe at the same time and right now breathing seems more important. It would be inconvenient if he died on Nari’s birthday, wouldn’t it?  
  
“ _That’s what I thought_!” Wonwoo exclaims then, taking Mingyu’s silence as a sign of victory and smiling widely. “You wanna finish your tea first or are you ready to go? Boys should be here soon.”  
  
Mingyu’s head shoots up so fast that he thinks his neck might snap. “Boys? What are you- Ready to go where?”  
  
“Upstairs. To Nari’s room. Where we will sing. ‘Cause it’s her birthday.” The words are slow, as if Wonwoo is making sure that Mingyu understands, but there’s a playful glint in his eye that has Mingyu laughing and swatting at Wonwoo’s arm just a few seconds later.  
  
“You don’t have to do that, I’m not that stupid,” he argues, getting up from his chair and leaving the table with his cup to put it in the sink. Wonwoo follows immediately, reaching past Mingyu to put his cup down too, winking at him as he does.  
  
“You’re a little stupid,” he says then, leaning up and placing a kiss on Mingyu’s cheek. “ _It is cute_.”  
  
Mingyu’s breathing stutters and he basically just stares at Wonwoo for a while before his lips move at their own accord, his voice merely a whisper as it comes out.  
  
“ _Wonwoo_.”  
  
He knows that his eyes are as pleading as his voice sounds, ‘cause at this point he can’t really deny his own feelings, _can he?_ He needs to clear things up or else he will explode and it will leave red splashes all over Wonwoo’s beautiful kitchen.  
  
Wonwoo smiles, like always. And it’s frustrating, as always. Mingyu needs a dictionary of Wonwoo’s different smiles.  
  
“Yeah,” he hums softly, still standing awfully close and staring straight into Mingyu’s soul. “Maybe it’s time we talk about _this_.”  
  
Mingyu doesn’t understand how Wonwoo can sound so cheerful when he’s about to confirm Mingyu’s miserable thoughts and make him properly sad, but he knows that Wonwoo is right. After the way Mingyu felt last night he knows he probably won’t last long as Nari’s nanny anyway. He won’t be able to pretend that he doesn’t want more than that anymore.  
  
“Not much to talk about, is there?” he asks, nailing his eyes to the floor and waiting for his world to fall apart.  
  
“We obviously can’t do this anymore. It’s not fair on anyone, especially Nari,” Wonwoo says, and Mingyu settles with a nod to show his agreement. After all; the sooner Mingyu leaves, the faster she’ll get over it and forget about him.  
  
“And with the way you’ve been acting lately, I mean, it’s obvious that you’ve been struggling, and I just- I wanted to give you time. But I’m pretty much done at the studio, and the conditions are completely different now, so. I thought you’d say something when you were ready, that you’d have something to- But you haven’t. And it’s… It’s time, yeah?”  
  
Mingyu wants to apologize. He always wants to apologize, even when he doesn’t know what to apologize for. But his mind is empty and his neglected emotions are all that’s left. He doesn’t really know how to work with that besides acting on instinct, so that’s what he does.  
  
A deep sigh, a forceful voice in his head telling him to look up and meet Wonwoo’s eyes, the clench of his heart when he sees something that’s not even close to sadness within the brown that’s had him daydreaming for the past two months. Mingyu can’t tell what it is he sees in Wonwoo’s eyes exactly, but the fact that he seems so okay with letting Mingyu go like this is painful, and it makes Mingyu doubt that they were ever even friends.  
  
“I’ll,” Mingyu mumbles, clearing his throat before continuing, “I’ll just go upstairs and pack, and then-"  
  
The doorbell rings and Mingyu has a new understanding of what ‘saved by the bell’ means. He takes in the way Wonwoo’s face changes; curiosity when Mingyu looks up, confusion when he talks, and irritation once the bell interrupts him and drowns the room in an echo of its shrill sound. He looks torn in-between saying whatever is on his mind and actually answering the door, but Mingyu can’t take it. He can’t wait for Wonwoo to make a decision and he probably doesn’t even want to hear the things Wonwoo has to say anyway, so he turns around and heads upstairs, making decisions for the both of them.

* * *

“Are you leaving?” a timid voice asks him a short moment after he’s entered his room. He’s just gotten his bag from where it’s been collecting dust under the bed and is busy throwing the few things he’s got in it when Nari finds him. The doorbell probably woke her up.  
  
_What a horrible way to wake up on your birthday._  
  
“Yeah, princess, I- Yeah. It’s,“ he breathes in, lets it all out and tries to gather some strength as he says, “You see, dad’s almost done with his new music and I don’t need to be here anymore.”  
  
“Yes you do! You _need_ to be here. You don’t need to go,” she says, the same desperation that Mingyu has roaming in his chest painfully present in her voice.  
  
“But I do, love. I  _do_  need to go. I’ll go back home where I belong and you will spend all your time with your dad again and everything will be  _great_ ,” Mingyu prompts, trying oh so desperately not to let himself cry. _Not yet._ Not until he’s out of the house and on his way home, at least.  
  
Nari nods, slowly. She has a straight face, her mouth set in a tight line as she nods  _so fucking slowly_  before she whispers out an ‘ _okay_ ’. Her gaze is firmly directed at the curtains by the window, doing everything she can not to look at the man who is currently doing the one thing she’s been wishing never to happen. And even though she’s too young to know of the word betrayal or its meaning she’s experiencing something awfully close to it, something that makes her chin wobble and her soft hands turn into hard fists by her sides.  
  
Then she breaks.  
  
The tears rolling down her cheeks are big right from the start, heavy as they more or less flow down her cheeks, down over her chin and finally land on her nightgown. It’s pink, of course, and the wet spots turn dark, as an angry proof of the damage done to the little girl.  
  
Mingyu chokes. On the sobs he refuses to let out, on the sight before him that is worse than anything he’s ever imagined before, on his broken heart that’s crashing in his chest. On everything, really. And he grabs his bag with shaky hands because it’s all he can do. He can’t comfort Nari, because he can’t comfort himself and he has nothing to say to make anything better. He needs to go and leave the mess to Wonwoo. He’s a strong man, he knows how to take care of these things, he- He's in the room.  
  
“What the-" Wonwoo starts, taking in the sight of his devastated daughter and giving Mingyu a confused look before he stumbles closer to Nari and reaches out for her, but she promptly turns her head and refuses to accept any kind of comfort, and Wonwoo looks up at Mingyu for an explanation that he doesn't have.  
  
“Princess, what’s going on? What’s gotten you so sad?”  
  
A long moment passes where all that can be heard is Nari’s irregular breathing.  
  
“He- He says- He’s  _leaving_ ,” is all she eventually manages to press out with her trembling voice.  
  
Wonwoo’s eyes shoot back up at Mingyu and his eyebrows are so furrowed that Mingyu thinks they might fall off if he stays confused for much longer. He can’t really see what’s so confusing about the situation, though.  
  
“No, he’s _not_ , who told you-  _Mingyu!_ ”  
  
Mingyu simply looks back at him and shrugs.  
  
“I’ll just- Go. I’m assuming Jeonghan is downstairs? I’ll go with him.”  
  
“What the hell,  _no, you won’t_. What are you even talking about? You’re- Do you  _ever_  understand  _anything_  that I say to you?”  
  
“I… _Yes?_ ”  
  
Wonwoo snorts, pulls Nari into his chest and hugs her as she calls out Jeonghan’ name. A short while later the owner of the name joins them, and in that special way of his he only lifts an eyebrow as a reaction before he puts his hands together and gives Wonwoo an expectant look.  
  
Wonwoo brushes the tears off of Nari’s cheek and smiles at her. “You know what, princess. I think you should take Jeonghan to your room and show him where all your pretty dresses are. Then you should pick the nicest one, since it’s your birthday, and once you’ve got it on I can guarantee that Jeonghan and the boys will take you out for breakfast to celebrate, okay?”  
  
Nari seems hesitant, and Mingyu can’t blame her. There’s a storm in the corner of this very room and it’s obvious that it’s about to cause some damage. Nari has no idea of what will be left if she does decide to leave and doesn’t come back until late.  
  
“Mingyu won’t go anywhere, I promise,” Wonwoo goes on, sensing his daughter’s insecurities. “Jeonghan is his drive away from here, and since you’ll be with Jeonghan  _and_  Jeonghan’ car, Mingyu won’t be able to go anywhere, okay? And once you come back we will all continue with the celebrations, okay?”  
  
The girl finally looks at her dad. “Mingyu too?”  
  
Wonwoo smiles. “Mingyu too,” he confirms, his words so solemn that Mingyu almost believes in them himself.


	8. 팔

Mingyu and Wonwoo stand in the doorway of Mingyu’s room, watching silently as Jeonghan grabs Nari’s hand and guides the somewhat reluctant girl down the hallway and into her room. Once they’ve disappeared out of sight Wonwoo closes the door, keeping his hand on it even after as if he’s certain that Mingyu will try to run if he doesn’t. It’s a bit frustrating, mostly because it’s very likely that he actually would.  
  
Now he’s left standing close to Wonwoo, holding his breath because he’s scared that it will come out too loud and irregular if he tries to breathe. He doesn’t want Wonwoo to hear that, thinks it’s enough that his broken insides are visible by the look on his face already.  
  
“Okay,” Wonwoo eventually says. It’s low. Soft. Sounds like a promise but isn’t more than a word to break the silence. Something to start this off, whatever it is. He decides to leave the door, though. His hand slipping further and further down the blank surface until it swings down by his side as he takes a few steps into the room.  
  
“Okay,” he says again, pacing as he starts to talk properly. “I’m starting to realize that you’re an _idiot_ when it comes to obvious things, so I’m gonna take this slow.”  
  
It’s a statement, not a question, and no matter how much Mingyu wants to leave the room and get out of there he knows – just as well as Wonwoo, apparently – that he won’t actually go anywhere until Wonwoo tells him to. ‘Cause that’s the way it’s been since he got here, he’s completely whipped when it comes to the Jeon's and would do anything they ask him to.  
  
“Can you please let go of your damn bag, we both know you’re not going anywhere,” Wonwoo then says, as if to prove a point.  
  
Mingyu looks down at the bag with surprised eyes, having forgotten about it during the moments that have passed since he was about to storm out of there. Did he actually think that he would be able to? He’s not too sure anymore. But he lets go of the bag and watches as it falls to the ground and reaches it with a thud that sounds too harsh in his own ears.  
  
“I hired you to work for me. Well, to work for my daughter, technically, but I  _did_  hire you and I  _am_  your boss. I never really treated you like an employee, though, did I?” Wonwoo asks, and Mingyu is finally forced to look up at the other man and face whatever it is his face is offering. Right now he mostly looks concerned.  
  
“No,” Mingyu confirms. “No, you didn’t. You’ve let me roam around in your house with your daughter as if-“  
  
“As if you’re my friend, yeah,” Wonwoo interrupts, finishing off Mingyu’s sentence for him and smiling shyly while doing so. “That’s what you’ve always felt like; a friend. You made me feel better than I have in a long time during the first two days you were here, and I was never really able to look at you as someone who worked for me after that. I trusted you with everything that’s important in my life right from the start and you’ve never let me down since.”  
  
Mingyu doesn’t know if he should say something, can’t really tell where Wonwoo is going with his little speech. “Yeah, but- But now I’ve fucked it up, right?”  
  
“Why, because this- This  _friendship_  between us has evolved into something else? Something _bigger?_ ” Wonwoo questions, and  _what?_  
  
Apparently Wonwoo can see the question forming on Mingyu’s lips ‘cause he walks closer and speaks up again once he’s within touching distance.  
  
“I’ve been confused by you for a long time. I never really think too much about things, so when I fell head over heels _in love with you_ I kinda just went with it. But you kept backing off whenever we got closer to each other, and for a while there I thought you just weren’t interested. That I’d mistaken the look in your eye and misread those crooked smiles you’ve given me over the past weeks.”  
  
Mingyu inhales sharply, feels like something is slipping out of his fingers that he wasn’t even aware that he was holding in the first place.  
  
“But I- You- That's.  _You have a child!_ ” he basically shouts out, desperate and confused. “You have a  _kid_. With a  _woman_. How was _I_  supposed to know?”  
  
Wonwoo cracks up completely, holding a hand to his stomach while putting the other one on Mingyu’s shoulder to keep himself steady. He’s still chuckling when he says, “You could’ve searched my name on google and chosen any of the websites that would’ve come up, because all of them would have told you that I’m bisexual. It’s never been a secret.”  
  
He feels a bit dumbfounded, he’s got to admit. “Yeah, well. I didn’t want to get to know you through the internet. I liked the real you,” he mumbles, embarrassed. When he manages to look back up he’s met with Wonwoo’s beaming smile and it almost knocks his breath away.  
  
“See,” Wonwoo murmurs. “This is why I like you. And I know you like me too, because the way you acted during the party last night wasn’t subtle. Plus, Jeonghan told me so before he left the house.”  
  
“Of course he did.”  
  
Wonwoo laughs again, open and loud with a warmth that manages to seep into Mingyu’s bones and make him relax for the first time since the storm started this morning. And he figures there’s nothing that’s stopping him anymore. There are no secrets to hide, nothing that he can keep from Wonwoo this time around. Wonwoo said that he’s in love with Mingyu. The stop signs have been shot down and his heart has grown wings. Either that, or relief and happiness has taken over his body and made his insides feel lighter than usual.  
  
“Well, I do. Like you, I mean. _Love you_ , even. Adore your kid. Like your house. I even like Bora.”  
  
And that turns out to be an effective way to put a stop to Wonwoo’s chuckles. He smiles, though. Big, bright,  _beautiful_. Then he reaches out, places his hand on Mingyu’s cheek, and brings him in for one simple, quick peck before he pulls back again, just enough so that he can look Mingyu in the eye when he says, “Good. That’s all I’ve been waiting to hear.”  
  
Mingyu meets him halfway this time, parting his lips enough to capture Wonwoo’s more firmly between his own and moving them ever so gently as he takes everything he’s been pretending not to wish for during the past two months. His arms circle Wonwoo’s small waist to bring him impossibly closer and Wonwoo’s sneak around Mingyu’s shoulders, pulling so that Mingyu moves with him when he starts to back them both to the bed.  
  
It’s not like Mingyu would say no, though. All thoughts of running out of the room and leaving this house and the people in it are forgotten, buried deep under dried tears and old hopelessness. So he goes, follows Wonwoo’s every step and eases him down on the bed once they reach it, quickly climbing up to hold himself above him as they keep kissing each other senseless, finally giving each other what they’ve been saving for so long.  
  
Wonwoo isn’t quiet. Of course he isn’t. He hums into the kiss, moans when Mingyu tugs at his hair and whines a little when he doesn’t reach as much of Mingyu’s body with his hands as he wishes he could. And Mingyu laps it all up, stores every little sound in a place in his memory marked with Wonwoo’s name on it, to cherish it forever. But he needs visuals to go with the sounds. He loves Wonwoo’s face, the different expressions he’s already learned by heart, but he needs more than that and the way Wonwoo’s hands feel on his body. So he takes the hem of Wonwoo’s shirt and pulls it off as soon as Wonwoo lifts his arms accommodatingly, savouring the sight before him as he carelessly throws the fabric to the side.  
  
Wonwoo’s cheeks are painted in the most beautiful shade of pink, and it has spread all the way down his neck and down to his chest, which is sparsely covered with dark hairs that stand out against the milky skin. It’s the most fantastic thing he’s ever seen.  
  
“Mingyu,  _please._ ”

Oh,  _right_. They’re in the middle of something here. Hopefully Mingyu will have the rest of his life to admire Wonwoo. Right now he really just needs to bury his face in the crook of Wonwoo’s neck and breathe him in. He’s been longing to do that for weeks.  
  
But he can’t really settle with that, of course. His lips trail over the sensitive skin on Wonwoo’s neck, stopping at times and mouthing along a vein, never actually kissing but definitely doing enough to make Wonwoo shiver underneath him. He is breathing in, savouring the heat and the scent, the small, sharp intakes of air Wonwoo survives on instead of proper breaths. All this while his fingers run over Wonwoo’s chest and down to trace the ribs on his right side, then lightly over his stomach. He can feel how Wonwoo shudders, and not even a second later his abs flex under Mingyu’s hand; a motion that catches Mingyu’s attention and makes him lift his head just to look. To look at the goose bumps that are left in the invisible prints Mingyu’s fingers have left all over his body; to look at the movement of muscles under his careful hands; to look up at Wonwoo’s face and meet eyes that seem just as captivated by it all as Mingyu is.  
  
He leans down, lets a warm breath mingle with the heat radiating from Wonwoo’s body, then closes the gap and kisses the soft patch right above Wonwoo’s bellybutton, scraping his teeth teasingly over the skin before biting down harder and eliciting a groan from the man underneath him as he sucks, soothing it with his tongue when he feels satisfied with is work.  
  
But Wonwoo has grown impatient, suddenly fisting the front of Mingyu’s shirt and forcibly dragging him up so that they’re face to face again. He never hesitates, just lifts his head up so that he can recapture Mingyu’s bottom lip between his own, all while his fists keep pulling at the fabric in a useless try to get the shirt off of Mingyu’s body.  
  
“C’mon, off.  _Get it off_ ,” he finally demands, lips moving against Mingyu’s, contradicting his own impatient words as they get back to work the second his wish has left his mouth. It makes Mingyu grin, especially when he detaches himself from him and hears the whine of protest.  
  
Mingyu knows that he looks good, even though he’s barely even gone for a jog since he moved here he knows that he’s fit. But with the way Wonwoo’s eyes roam his torso once his t-shirt has come off he can’t really remember that he’s ever felt as good looking before. He can hear Wonwoo’s breath hitching, can see the way his hand actually trembles when he lifts it up to touch Mingyu’s chest. And Mingyu feels  _shy_ , his cheeks burning not only with aroused excitement but also with embarrassment and the dull ache in his chest caused by the need to please. He wants to be everything for Wonwoo, the way Wonwoo has turned into everything for him.  
  
“I- Holy  _fuck_ , you’re gorgeous,” Wonwoo breathes out, husky and urgent, as if he feels that he needs to say it or else Mingyu will evaporate and leave him trembling on twisted sheets under nothing but cooling air.  
  
Mingyu is a loss for words. Torn between gloating in the attention and shying away from it he decides to duck down for another kiss, lips already parted and sucking Wonwoo’s tongue into his mouth right away. Wonwoo moans, digging the fingers of his right hand into the fleshy part of Mingyu’s side while his left hand creeps up to grip the back of Mingyu’s neck to hold him in place.  
  
Mingyu can’t really keep himself up any longer though, his arms are trembling under his weight and he gently eases himself down so that he’s half on top of Wonwoo with the other half of his body resting on the bed. The new position allows his left arm to reach down and his fingers to wander along the waistband of his boxers that are peeking out from under his jeans. The way Wonwoo stops kissing him back and just pants into his mouth when he cups Wonwoo through the thick fabric is all the conformation Mingyu needs.  
  
He works up the button and zipper rather skilfully with just one hand, mind fully set even though it’s clouded with lust and pretty occupied with the kissing that’s going on in the northern area. He has to break off to pull Wonwoo’s jeans down his legs, though, dragging the boxers down at the same time ‘cause he really doesn’t feel like messing around. He’s been messing around for two months and it’s been pure torture.  
  
Once he’s gotten every piece of clothing off of Wonwoo’s body he slowly works his way up Wonwoo’s thin legs, placing kisses along the left one as he goes and giving a few extra to the knee before he continues on the inside of the thigh, marking the skin with his teeth as he tries hard to keep Wonwoo still.  
  
They are both panting loudly by now, regular breathing holding a meaning neither of them would be able to explain in the heat of the moment, and Mingyu is so hard within the confined space of his damn jeans that he probably would be crying out if it weren’t for that fact that he’s got Wonwoo trashing around right in front of him.  
  
His lips travel upwards and he pokes his tongue out to lick along the v-line, craving the taste of Wonwoo’s skin and memorizing the way it feels, how it is to finally be allowed to touch, to lick, to-  
  
“Are you trying to kill me?”  
  
Mingyu’s head shoots up, surprise and confusion probably written all over his face as he stares into Wonwoo’s clouded eyes before it hits him, and yeah.  
  
“I just-" he says, desperation laced around his voice. “I don’t know what to- I want to do  _everything_. I want to-"  
  
“We have time for that,  _love_.  _So much time_. Just- do something.  _Anything_. Please. Need you to do something, or let me-"  
  
He stops abruptly when Mingyu surges forward and attacks his lips with his own while simultaneously wrapping his hand around his cock and squeezing with just the right amount of pressure.  
  
Wonwoo moans into the kiss, obviously satisfied with Mingyu’s decision, and the sound goes straight to Mingyu’s dick, making him trust against Wonwoo’s knee that is perfectly positioned between his own legs. With an urgency he hasn’t felt since he was sixteen he grinds against Wonwoo’s thigh, matching the speed with his hand on Wonwoo’s hard member.  
  
His thumb moves over the head, using the pre-come to slick his hand and making Wonwoo groan with pleasure with every stroke as their kissing gets sloppier. It’s not so much a battle for dominance as it is a desperate need to be as close to each other as possible, to feel the other and to take as much as they can from one another while giving just as much, and Mingyu is starting to feel his stomach tighten up embarrassingly early but it’s not like he actually cares, ‘cause judging by the way Wonwoo is tugging at Mingyu’s locks and biting on his lower lip Mingyu thinks Wonwoo is pretty close too.  
  
“I’m gonna- Fuck!  _Mingyu_ , I’m-"  
  
“Yeah, me too. Me too,” Mingyu groans into Wonwoo’s mouth, giving a few more thrusts before he comes in his pants, managing to keep his rhythm and jack Wonwoo off even though the force of his orgasm almost makes him black out.  
  
Wonwoo comes just a few strokes later, moaning out curses and making Mingyu’s name sound like the filthiest and most beautiful thing he’s ever heard while spurting all over his stomach and Mingyu’s hand, and Mingyu sees him through it before he lets Wonwoo go, resting his head on Wonwoo’s shoulder and finally, finally, trying to catch his breath.  
  
He can’t really relax, though. Can’t lie there with Wonwoo and enjoy what’s just happened even though it’s all he want to do for the rest of his life.  
  
“I’m disgusting.”  
  
It’s starts out as a low chuckle, but soon enough Wonwoo is full on laughing. His whole body shakes with it, which makes it rather uncomfortable for Mingyu to lay half on top of him.  
  
“You’re everything but,” Wonwoo objects, twisting his head and looking at Mingyu with that  _something_  in his eye that used to be impossible to label. Mingyu realizes now that he’s been stupid to think that that something was just one thing. It’s several things.  
  
Love. Admiration. Hope. Care. Fondness.  
  
“I  _feel_ disgusting.”  
  
“Your  _pants_  are disgusting, You should take them off,” Wonwoo says, giving a cheeky grin complete with wiggling eyebrows.

* * *

They make it into the shower in Mingyu’s bathroom after half an hour spent in bed, discussing how big of an idiot Mingyu has been in-between kisses and murmured declarations of love.  
  
“I couldn’t have been more obvious, Mingyu,” Wonwoo says at one point. “I hung the drawing of the two of us getting married  _on the fucking fridge_! And we’ve only known each other for two bloody months!”  
  
Mingyu has never been happier. At least not until an hour later, when Nari comes back home with the guys trailing behind her and a smile on her face. When she sees Mingyu next to Wonwoo on the couch she runs over and crawls up in his lap to hug him with all the force she's got in her.  
  
“Hi princess,” he greets her, the most sincere smile he thinks he’s ever worn plastered on his face as he holds her tight, unbelievably happy to be where he is.  
  
“You’re still here! You’re  _here_. Are you  _staying_? Please? I promise I’ll be good.”  
  
To think that Nari actually believes that she might have had something to do with Mingyu’s almost-departure would have broken his heart if he hadn’t known the good news that are about to be revealed.  
  
“I’m staying. Things will be a _bit_ different from now on, but I’ll stay,” Mingyu assures her, almost bursting as he speaks and laughing at Nari’s excited shriek once she’s let the news sink in.  
  
“Really?” she asks, her gaze drifting to the side to where her dad is sitting, his hand entwined with Mingyu’s like it has been since they sat down. “ _Really_ dad?”  
  
“Of course, love. _We love him too much to let him go_ , don’t we?”  
  
There are comments, whistles and other inappropriate sounds coming from the three men in the corner of the room which Mingyu decides to ignore. He concentrates on what he’s got around him instead. Something that seems a lot like family; something he’ll never let go of; something that never again will force him to keep his emotions in check.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, I did not wrote this fic. Jessica (missing-headaches on tumblr and missingheadache on here) is the one who wrote every single word, but I asked her if I could adapt the story and she gave me the free pass — so please, don't give me a headache telling me that I stole her story or something like that.
> 
> And second: this story is amazing. I asked her if I could adapt because it is really worth it.
> 
> Obs: Wonwoo's daughter name was actually Molly. I've changed it to Nari because the meaning of this name is "little flower" and I think it's so cute.


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